China will reduce the time period needed for admission of Russian grain exporters to its market

"During the negotiations, an agreement to reduce terms for reviewing and coordinating the lists of Russian exporters and grain custodians (to 1 month or less) was finally reached", the agency said. As Rosselkhoznadzor (Russia's agricultural safety watchdog) official representative Yulia Melano explained to "TASS", that since clear deadlines were not specified before, these procedures required too much time, and thanks to this agreement, negotiations between the parties must accelerate.

On July 30-31, 2017, representatives of the Rosselkhoznadzor (Russia's agricultural safety watchdog) took part in consultations on the removal of barriers and restrictions in the trade sector and in economic and investment spheres between Russia and China in general. The parties discussed further steps in order to open Chinese market for Russian beef and its by-products, poultry products, as well as exports of aquatic biological resources to China, etc.

Earlier, the head of the Agriculture Ministry of the Russian Federation Alexander Tkachev informed "TASS" that the Ministry continues to carry out systematic work on the admission of Russian grain to the Chinese market. According to him, the Parties reached an agreement on the possible expansion of the list of Russian regions that have the right to export wheat and on including in this list of Chelyabinsk and Amur regions. In addition, at the end of 2016, the Kurgan region also applied for being included in the list of regions exporting wheat to China.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2016 Russia exported 756 thousand tons of grain to China, which is 6% higher than in 2015 (714 thousand tons).
In 2015, the Russian Federation supplied China with 500 thousand tons of soybeans, corn and rapeseed. At the same time, corn and soybeans were supplied from the Primorye territory, and rapeseed was imported from Transbaikalia and Chita regions. But in general, the market for grain supplies from Russia (including wheat) was formally opened only on December 17th, 2015. This day, Russia and China signed protocols on phytosanitary requirements for grain supplied from Russian Federation, including wheat, corn, rice, soybeans and rapeseed. However, in practice, large-scale deliveries were not started yet.

In particular, the supply of spring wheat grain is permitted from the Altai and Krasnoyarsk Territories, Novosibirsk and Omsk Regions, and supply of corn, rice, soybeans, rapeseed are may be imported from the Khabarovsk, Primorsky and Trans-Baikal Territories, Amur Region and Jewish Autonomous Region. All products are intended for further processing only.

Earlier, "TASS" reported (with reference to Chinese customs statistics) that export of corn from Russian Federation to China in the first half of 2017 amounted to 0.54 thousand tons (-99.1% compared to the same period last year), wheat - 2 thousand tons and soybeans - 231.71 thousand tons (-20%).

Source: alta.ru
Source photo: photogenica.ru